Questions Concerning the Composition of the Tannishō: The Role of Shinran’s Words and Yuien’s Criticism

Abstract

Yuien’s Tannishō is a text that discusses various elements in Shinran’s notion of faith. Chapter 10 of the text in particular “combines the language of Shinran and Yuien’s critical preface.” A common theory long proposed in various works posits that articles 1–10 of the chapter constitute Yuien’s interpretation of Shinran’s words, while articles 11–18 contain Yuien’s criticism. However, dividing the eighteen articles into separate parts produces discrepancies between Shinran’s words and Yuien’s criticism. The previous studies point out this problem, but without resolution, raising the question as to whether the underlying theory is reasonable. This paper reexamines the role of Shinran’s words and Yuien’s criticism by reviewing this two-part composition theory, and proposing an alternative way of understanding the composition of the Tannishō in its entirety.